Breastfeeding & Pumping - San Mateo,CA

There's no need for your baby to 'empty you completely'. In fact, its not really possible ... although breasts have some milk storage capacity, mostly you produce milk as your child needs it. There is no reason to expect your milk production to go down. From what you describe, it sounds like she is getting what she needs and your body will continue to adjust to her needs.

On the other hand, since you are planning to go back to work soon, pumping for 5-10 minutes after a feeding and freezing your milk isn't a bad idea. Its nice to have a little 'bank' of milk before going back to work. I would recommend pumping just once or twice a day after feeding.

Pump and freeze girl! Extra is always good. :) The more milk the better. I always pumped the extra when my daughters didn't empty me out. Freeze it in the back of the freezer so it can keep longer. My extra milk saved my daughter from having to go into the hospital when she had a throat infection and wouldn't eat three months after i stopped nursing. I also went back to work..my daughter was 4 months old and pumped every two hours on the nose and she was never formula fed. It was nice to have the extra when i wanted to lunch with a friend instead of sit in my car on milk myself. :) You'll start to feel like a cow after a while, but it's worth it in the end. :) lol

Why are you concerned that there is still milk in your breasts? No milk is bad! the milk still in your breasts it's certainly not "left-over" like cold mashed potatoes and meatloaf. ;)
Pump and freeze milk in anticipation of your return to work because baby will eat more and more as she grows. Pumping once a day for 10-15 minutes will keep your breasts working hard. Also handy if you ever have to go out or take medicine or enjoy a cocktail on your birthday without guilt.
My daughter ate the same way when she was tiny - she spit up a ton - I could never burp her fast enough to stop the fountain so I learned to just hold her over the sink after a feeding to save my shirt.
She still nurses for short bursts at 8 months but sucks really hard and I can hear her little gulps so I know she's taking in a lot at once.
If you ever feel like your breasts are slowing down or Baby hits a growth spurt (typically @ 8 weeks) you can supplement with Mother's Milk Tea and/or Fenugreek capsules to catch up.
I've found that eating lots of lean proteins & nuts and healthy carbs like sweet potatoes or brown rice help too.
Finally - when she gets older she will be easily distracted so you may end up having to nurse her somehwere dark and quiet to get her to stay on task and not just snack.

ok here is a few things to keep in mind before you can make that dicission:
1. Breast milk is only good- in the fridge (stored in the back NOT IN DOOR) for 4-7 days
- In regular freezer for 3 months
- in deep freezer for 6 months.
2. Freezing the milk does make it loose a little of its immunities.
3. Your body is the most perfect machine and if you keep allowing your baby to controll how much she eats you body will listen to here just : Get lots of rest, Lots of Water, and DO NOT EAT SAGE!!! The stimulation she gives you tells your body how much to make; However there is nothing wrong with freezing it for a rainy day just make sure you watch the date and smell it before serviing it. I always rotated it out every couple of months so we did not get to expiration. You never know what might happen. Please do not stress about it either way, so it is comletely up to you. I pumped it and stored it personally.

Hi B. -

Congrats on your great milk supply! Glad to hear your LO is doing well.

You've already received some great advice - I just had a couple of links and suggestions for you.

Kellymom.com has a quick reference chart that lists storage times for breastmilk:

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkstorage.html

Also, some women find that even when they store their milk properly that it develops an off odor very rapidly. If you have really handled it correctly, then it isn't bad but it sure does smell and taste awful. This is due to an excess of an enzyme that starts to digest the milk. I'd suggest that you do a test run fairly early on in your pumping process (freeze some and thaw it out the next day and make sure it still smells and tastes ok) to find out if this will be an issue for you. And then check it again periodically - I didn't have a problem with this early on in my lactation, but after nine months I couldn't even leave freshly pumped bottle in the fridge for five hours! If you check it regularly then you won't end up having to toss a significant amount of your liquid gold because it's gone funky (which can be heartbreaking!)

If you do find your milk seems to sour rapidly, it's easy to fix - just scald the milk ASAP after you pump and then freeze normally. That should take care of it. Here's a link that talks about how to scald the milk:

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/lipase-expressedmilk.html

And be aware that after your LO is about four months old that your breasts will get better at "predicting" how much milk she needs and they will not feel as full because they'll get good at making milk on demand. Since you'll be pumping you'll probably know that there's still plenty of milk, but keep that in the back of your head - as long as your girl is gaining weight and giving you plenty of wet diapers then know that she's getting plenty of milk!

That is completely normal!! As long as there re wet diapers and a content baby all is well! You should start pumping to get a head start but only once a day, as it will increase your supply and might make you uncomfortable if you pump more!

My daughter was the same way and I ended up only feeding her one side at a time so she get get more hind milk and pumping the other side. It was great because I had already "let down" from feeding her one side so it made pumping a lot easier and faster pumping the other side. A friend of mine did the same thing but pumped 1 side WHILE nursing on the other, saving tons of time. I had talked to a lactation consultant about this because I was worried it would affect my supply and she assured me it was OK, and even great because I would be making sure more of the milk was being taken out and thus keeping my supply high. And don't worry about other posts about breastmilk being different at different ages and storing for too long - ALL BREASTMILK IS BETTER THAN FORMULA!!!! So store it up while you have the time to pump in hopes your baby never has to be on formula!!!

I wouldn't worry too much about her not emptying you out. Your body will adjust to what she needs. As long as you aren't uncomfortably full, I'd recommend letting your body do what it does.

As for pumping and storing... I know that lots of moms stockpile milk for months before returning to work. However, my understanding is that it isn't necessary or even advisable. The milk you produce for your newborn is different than what you'll be making for your 6 month old. Obviously the newborn milk wouldn't HURT your older baby (formula fed babied drink the same stuff all the time) but it wouldn't be as good as feeding her something more recent. The best advice I got when returning to work while breastfeeding was simply to pump while I was away from my son and leave that milk for him to have the following day. That way my supply stayed up and I was able to nurse on the weekends and didn't have to have a freezer full of "boobie juice" greeting any house guests.

Hope this helps. There's no wrong choice. Do what works for you and baby.

T.

I was recently told that you should only save the breast milk for so long. That would be your only concern. Otherwise, pump away and build up a reserve for that baby.

It's never too early to start building up a supply! If you feel like you still have milk when she's finished eating, I would definitely start pumping and saving it for later. Trust me - you'll need it when you go back to work. Pump both sides at the same time for about 10 minutes, unless they drain faster.

Hope everything is going well with your new baby!

K.
http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/karenchao

Having a supply is good for two reasons. First, as you mentioned you will be going to work, and having milk in reserve for that time will be good. Second, you never know if you will get sick and not be able to feed her for a day or two. Most times your illness wouldn't affect the milk for her, but in case it did, you'd have a supply to feed her, while you pump and dispose of what you're producing while you're sick. Do be sure when you store milk to put the date on each package so you'll be able to use it while it's still good.

Breastfedding works as a supply and demand system. Whatever amount your baby is demanding, your body will make. If she's not taking everything your body is making, as she grows, she will empty you. You could pump the extra now, just to keep up production, but be careful. If there is a lot, you could become engorged and very uncomfortable when your body starts making what you're taking out, and maybe a little more. When you return to work, you will need to start pumping to keep up the same amount because if you're not feeding her every feeding, then she's not demanding it from your body and you will slow and evetually stop producing. This was my experience. I had to stop at 3 months because I wasn't pumping as often as I should have and I ended up not producing enough to keep my daughter full. I hope this helps!

Your doing fine! If shes got good output and gaining weight thats all that matters! If you pump after she nurses you will increase your supply and its fine to freeze that. You may start to get engorged but pump that and save that too! Your body will adjust itself for what you are demanding from it. Just make sure to drink alot of water and eat enough food! My son (my 3rd child) is 7 weeks and thats what I do for him and did when I had my girls. I remember as a first time mom I was panicky about breastfeeding cause I never really knew how much my daughter was getting and ironically I got into an argument with a friend last night cause he said my son was getting enough to eat. Trust your instincts and your babies cues, if she is hungry she will let you know! I know my son gets enough cause I could proly change his diaper every 15 min! he seems to always be dirty!

PS. I always try to keep a few days of bottles in my freezer at all times. You never know what might happen. With my last daughter I got a severe kidney infection when she was 10 months and had to stop nursing so they could treat it, I had enough milk in my freezer to get her through a week! By the next week I was able to nurse again! Good luck!

If your planning on heading back to work and pumping, I highly suggest you start to pump while the supply is there. My son refused bottles so I ended up pump-and-dumping, but I wanted to make sure that my supply was there. Eventually after a couple months I let my body do the adjusting, but I am a SAHM and daycare provider so I could feed on demand. when you go back to work you never know, their eating habits can change. So in the mean time I would play it safe :) Good luck